Wealth-X Unveils The Top Ten Billionaire Art Collectors

SINGAPORE, June 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Wealth-X, the ultra high net worth (UHNW) business development solution for Global Private Banks, Educational Institutions, Luxury Brands and Non-Profits, has released a list of the top 10 Billionaire Art Collectors.

"The world's biggest billionaire art buyers have art collections worth a combined US$9.18 billion, constituting approximately 18 per cent of their net worth," Mykolas Rambus, Wealth-X CEO, said. "Of the world's 2,170 billionaires, the average holding of art is worth US$31m or 0.5 per cent of their net worth."

The billionaire with the heaviest weighting of art in his portfolio is British-Iranian property tycoon Nasser Khalili, the owner of the largest private collection of art in the world. Also known as the 'Secret Sultan', Khalili has almost all of his US$1bn fortune invested in his art collection. He has liquid assets of cash and investments of around US$70m, which equates to only 7 per cent of his fortune.

Of the top ten biggest art collector billionaires, Francois Pinault, the owner of Christie's auction house, is the wealthiest. With a fortune of US$9.9bn, US$1bn of that is tied up in art. He has amassed a personal collection of at least 2,000 pieces including those by Picasso, Mondrian and Jeff Koons. His collection is estimated at just over 10 per cent of his assets.

The most expensive art collection belongs to David Lawrence Geffen, who owns an estimated US$1.1bn worth of art. The DreamWorks Animation founder has a fifth of his US$5.5bn fortune invested in art. 70- year-old Geffen is a keen collector of American artists. He reportedly sold four pieces of his contemporary art collection for an estimated $421m in 2006, including a drip painting "Number 5, 1948″ by Jackson Pollock for $140m, "Woman III" by Willem De Kooning for $137.5m, "False Start, 1959″ by Jasper Johns for $80m, and "Police Gazette" for $63.5m.

Wealth-X provides detailed intelligence on ultra high net worth (UHNW) individuals globally. The firm's Wealth-X Professional solution is the standard for banking, marketing and not-for-profit professionals working with the ultra affluent. Wealth-X is headquartered in Singapore with offices in all major financial centres.